High school football: St. Charles East makes statement with win against Geneva

ST. CHARLES – Despite winning its first two games, the St. Charles East football team’s season was going to be graded on its performance against the likes of its Tri-Cities rivals – Geneva, St. Charles North and Batavia.

The Saints passed their first test with flying colors as Geneva visited East Friday night. East caused six turnovers, and its triple-option offense took another step in its progression in a dominant 30-0 shutout of the Vikings.

The win was the first for East against Geneva since 2012, and just the second ever win against the Vikings in nine total meetings.

East (3-0, 1-0 Upstate Eight Conference River Division) was led on the defensive end by Clayton Isbell's two interceptions, the first of which led the the Saints' first touchdown of the night.

Sebastian Grohe and Yalon Rogers also added interceptions for the Saints.

"There's certainly things to improve on, but tonight was a good night for us," East coach Bryce Farquhar said. "Our defensive was outstanding, and the turnovers really kept us in the game. Geneva came out and executed their run game pretty well, but when they did throw the ball, our guys read the routes and did a good job creating turnovers."

Bright spots offensively for East (292 rushing yards) were Nick Garlisch (108 rushing yards, TD), and quarterback Zach Mitchell (88 rushing yards, 2 TDs). Justin Jett added the final touchdown of the night, a 26-yard, third-quarter scamper up the middle.

Geneva (1-2, 0-1) was never able to develop a rhythm offensively, or defensively for that matter, due to the turnovers. Kyle Evert completed 8 of 15 passes for 93 yards, while Lance Arni led the Vikings with 86 yards on the ground after collecting 476 in the first two weeks of the season.

The Saints have their biggest matchup of the season in Week 4 at North (3-0, 1-0), while Geneva heads to Streamwood.

ST. CHARLES EAST 30, GENEVA 0

HOW THEY SCORED

First quarter

SCE – FG Burns 30, 5:56.

SCE – Mitchell 5 run (Burns kick), 4:15.

Second quarter

SCE – Mitchell 41 run (Burns kick), 11:24.

SCE – Garlisch 23 run (Burns kick), 6:53.

Third quarter

SCE – Jett 26 run (Kick failed), :52.5.